The True Light Witnessed, Rejected, and Received | John 1:6-13

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We're so glad you're here.

In just a moment, Pastor James will continue our verse-by-verse journey through the Gospel of John as we discover more about who Jesus is, his life, his teaching, his purpose, and what his word means for our lives today.

We pray this message encourages your heart and strengthens your walk with Christ.

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Well, take your Bibles and turn with me, if you will, to the Gospel of John, chapter one.

We're going to look at verses six to thirteen this week.

And I want to ask you to stand as I read this passage.

I love standing to honor the Word of God as we read.

And we're going to see in this passage that the true light, as Jesus has referred to, the true light who has come into the world, there's one that would witness about him, that would be a witness, he's witnessed of.

There's also others that would reject him at his coming.

And then there are those by God's grace that have received him.

And it's the same today.

There are those who witness of him, there are those who reject him when they hear the witness, and there are those, praise God, who receive him as they hear the witness.

So read along with me.

John chapter 1, beginning in verse 6.

John 1 · chapter mention

There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

And he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light, the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him, speaking of Jesus.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of man or the flesh, but they were born of God.

Father, we pray that as we open your word this morning, God, you would speak to our hearts.

God, we pray that those of us who have received Christ and know him, God, would be encouraged to be witnesses of Christ.

Lord, I pray that if there's anyone here this morning that does not know Christ, that the Holy Spirit would prick their hearts and they would respond to him and they'll answer the question of what will you do with Jesus now that you know who he is.

So, Father, we ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen.

You be seated.

Last week, if you remember in verses 1 to 5, as we started the Gospel of John, John begins to write and he states out and he lets us know who Jesus is or who Jesus was.

John clearly states in those opening verses that Jesus is the eternal word, and he's been for the beginning.

He is the word, the expression of God.

He's God Himself.

He's the creator of all that there is, He's the source of life, and He's the light that shines in the darkness, and light dispels darkness, and so Christ came to dispel that darkness.

Now, beginning in verse 6, John moves from the identity of the light or the identity of Jesus to what humanity's response was and is to Jesus.

And so last week we looked at the question, who is Jesus?

As John explained him.

This morning we're all going to answer the question to ourselves, then what will we do with Jesus?

What will we do with this light?

Because it's not enough just to know who he is, but he calls us to respond to him.

We've got to deal with Jesus.

Amen?

So I want to ask the question again.

What will you do with Jesus?

The first opening verses, verses 6 to 8, we see of the witness that was sent by God, speaking of John the Baptist, who is to be a witness to the light.

Let me read those verses again.

And there was a man sent from God whose name was John.

Now, who he's speaking of is John the Baptist, and we record, we read very clearly in Luke's gospel how that God miraculously had opened Elizabeth's womb.

She was a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and had opened her womb so that she might bear a child in her late age.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

And that he would be the forerunner.

He would be the one who would go before Jesus to declare a message of repentance, to call people to turn their hearts towards God.

He was not the light, but God had sent him to be the light.

So here's John.

We're going to speak more about John the Baptist in a couple of weeks when we get there.

But he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The one thing that we see about John the Baptist is that John the Baptist didn't decide on himself to be this witness to the light.

In other words, it wasn't one day that John the Baptist said, Hey, you know, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna be a witness to the coming Messiah.

But we see that God had foreordained and had appointed John the Baptist as a forerunner and a witness.

He was not self-appointed, just like you and I are not self-appointed.

Amen.

But it says God calls us and leads us in whatever way he wants to use us.

God himself commissions specific purposes in our lives as Christ's followers.

Question, have you sought him as to what that is?

Now, John's particular mission that God had given to him was to bear witness of the light.

Again, he says he came as a witness to bear witness about the light.

You see, John's ministry was not about John.

Amen.

Your ministry and my ministry are not about us.

But everything that God leads us to do, it's all about him.

His responsibility, John's was, was to point people to Jesus, to point people to the light.

It's the same in our lives as well.

That as we have become Christ's followers, as we have received Christ and we've been born again, we all are appointed, God has appointed us to be a witness of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Not just to live our lives as a witness, not just to live, there are plenty of moral people that live good lives.

But the Bible says that faith comes by the word of God, faith comes by hearing the word of God.

And so we not only have to live it out, it is a reflection in our life, but we're to speak of that faith and that salvation that God has called us to and so graciously given to us.

Notice John says in verse 29 of this same chapter, as he speaks of Jesus, he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Notice his very specific purpose.

The Lamb of God who does what?

Takes away the what?

Sin of the world.

And so God's primary purpose in sending Jesus was not only to reflect him, to display the revelation of who God the Father is, but he sent him so that we might be saved from the penalty of our sin.

Amen.

And he spared the wrath of God that is coming against all who do not believe.

So the purpose of his witness was belief.

Notice he says again in that verse, that all might believe through him.

Now, John didn't want people just to merely have a head knowledge of who Jesus is.

You see, we can have plenty of head knowledge about Jesus.

We can tell the Bible stories that we learned in Sunday school or vacation Bible school.

We can know all the facts.

We can play Bible trivia and win in Bible trivia, even if we cheat in Bible trivia to win.

I'm not looking at anybody in particular.

We can know all of that.

But John came so that we might believe in Jesus.

Do you believe in Jesus this morning?

John 20, 31.

We see again the purpose in John writing his gospel as he says, but these are written, the things that he had previously read, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

You see, our mission is very similar to John the Baptist.

Now you may not run around with an unshaved beard, and you may not eat locusts and you may not wear animal skins, but our mission is the same that John the Baptist was sent to do, so that we might bear witness of Christ.

You see, our evangelism, as we share Christ, as we go out, as we pray for those that we're asking the Lord to save.

Our goal in evangelism is to bear witness to Jesus, not to bear witness to others, to ourselves, so that others might be saved.

About a year ago this week, there was a young man that came to me at the altar down here.

And it was at the close of the service, and there was not any large appeal for salvation that day.

But as he came down, and I had met him a couple of times, as he came down, he was in tears, and the only thing he said to me is, I need to know how to be saved.

God was drawing him through the witness of the word.

And he came that morning and wanted to trust Christ as a savior.

And so took some time and explained to him the gospel to make sure that he understood it.

It's Jonathan sitting right over here, Jonathan Villalobos.

Did I pronounce that right, Jonathan?

There he is.

Jonathan came from a very strong Catholic background, but did not know Jesus personally.

And his wife, Kayla, grew up a Muslim.

And she soon followed suit after Jonathan to come to know Christ.

As we began to meet regularly as I was meeting with them in a discipling relationship, Jonathan came one morning or one Thursday afternoon and he began asking if he can have some of the material that we were using in discipleship.

And he explained that he's got some guys at his job that he wants to begin a Bible study with.

And I said, Are they Christians?

He said, No, I want to begin a Bible study.

You see, discipleship starts with evangelism, amen.

And so Jonathan began to meet with these guys and to and to date, and I'm not boasting on Jonathan, it's not about Jonathan, amen.

If you know Jonathan, you know it's not about him.

It's all about Jesus.

And consequently, in the last year, two of his workmates have come to know Christ.

And just two weeks ago, he went to what's the name of the church?

Prince Avenue Baptist Church.

Prince Avenue Baptist Church to share in the witness of the baptism of one of those that came to know Christ.

The point in sharing this is that we can all rejoice and have those stories in our life as we share Christ, and there's nothing more enjoyable than to see somebody come to faith in Christ and know that their life has been transformed.

Church, our responsibility is to bear witness to the light, as John's responsibility was to bear witness to the light.

Very similar.

The true light had come, though.

We'll look at verse 9.

He says, the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

I spoke a lot about the light last week.

But now our writer, John, turns our attention away from John the Baptist back to Jesus.

You see, Jesus is not merely a light among other lights, He is the true light, the one and only light.

In our culture today, there are those that think there are many lights and there are million points of light.

And we just got to find one.

And sometimes we look within ourselves to find that light.

But can I tell you that apart from Christ, there is no light in our heart.

It's only darkness.

Amen?

He's bearing witness to the true light.

John 8 12 says, I am the light of the world.

Jesus is speaking here.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light.

He was coming into the world.

John's preparing the way to tell us in verse 14, as we'll get to next week, that, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Aren't you glad that God in his grace loved us so much that he said the true light into the world so that we might come to faith and know Jesus Christ as our Savior?

You see, God enters our darkness.

He didn't have to do that.

After Adam and Eve had fallen in the garden and sinned against God, God could have just said, All right, that's it.

No hope.

But God Himself knew that the only way to redeem lost mankind who had sinned against him was to send his son, God, very God, fully God, fully man, that he might be the only reasonable, the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins.

That's a loving God.

Amen.

Isaiah 9 2, as Isaiah is prophesying about the coming Messiah.

He says, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness on them has light shone.

Put ourselves in that verse.

Put yourself in that verse.

We once walked in darkness, blinded in darkness, and we'd seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in deep darkness, now the light has shone in our hearts.

Jesus speaking to Nicodemus.

I referred to this last week.

Beginning in verse 19, after he's told Nicodemus that he must be born again.

Verse 19, Jesus says, And this is the judgment.

The light, speaking of himself, has come into the world.

But people love darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it might be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

John 8 12.

Again Jesus spoke and said, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

One last verse, John 12, 46.

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

You see, we don't come to God by creating our own light.

We don't come to God by imagining in our mind all the different prospects and possibilities that there might be about God, the creator of the universe.

We don't come to Him on our own, but He comes so that He might expose the darkness in our lives, so that we might see the light of Christ.

Yesterday I had the opportunity when I was having breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast spots.

I'm not going to say where it is.

And as we were talking, he made this statement that he thinks God has put out a bunch of different pathways, and these are religions or in ourselves, that there's this light that we're drawn to.

And it cued my mind in on the sermon that I'm preaching this morning.

And his idea was that there were many ways, and we could find God in many ways.

That we just had to come to that.

And I wasn't going to refute him, I wasn't going to argue with him as we're talking, but I had opportunities to ask him about truth.

And would God ever lie?

And he said, Well, no, God wouldn't lie.

And I said, then we really need to look at what Jesus said because Jesus made these claims about himself.

And so as we continued to talk, I told him, I said, you know, I'd love to have a sit-down opportunity with you that I might discuss this with you further.

Would you be open to that?

And he said, Absolutely.

I love talking, I love talking this kind of stuff.

He grew up in a church, he grew up going to church, but he does not know Christ.

And so I asked him, I said, you know, as a matter of fact, if we really want to look at Jesus, I just began a series in the Gospel of John.

He works on Sunday, so he can't come to church.

And I said, well, we have a podcast.

If you'd like to follow along and hear who Jesus was as we explain it through the scriptures, he said, Oh, yeah, man.

Well, you share the podcast with me.

So I did.

And that's an opportunity that we might be able to use with people.

You may not be able to fully explain or feel uncomfortable doing that, but there's a way that you can point them so that they might hear the message of who Jesus is and be confronted with what they must do with Jesus.

So be praying for him.

I'm not going to say his name in case he watches or listens to this on the podcast.

But notice here, same as today.

The world rejected the light, verses 10 and 11.

He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

Well, this is ironic, isn't it?

Our creator, the one who created us, that he could be in our presence and in our midst and in their presence physically, and we not recognize him.

You see, sin has so blinded us that in our natural selves, as we are born sinners, that our natural inclination is to reject him and not recognize him.

Why?

Because the light exposed the darkness, and we love our evil deeds more than we love the light.

They rejected him.

They rejected all things, even though he was the creator, all things were made through him, John had said in verse 3.

Paul makes his case very clear of how sin has blinded us, the human race, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4.

2 Corinthians 4:4

He says, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

You see, Jesus had gone to the Jews, he came to his own, and the people did not receive him.

And Satan, the God of this world, and our sin has so blinded us that we cannot see him apart from his drawing and his working, wooing us so we might know him.

Aren't you glad that he drew you so that you might know him this morning?

Wasn't of our own doing.

Isaiah 53 prophesies about the rejection that Jesus would receive.

He says he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Let me prepare you that if you go to be a witness of the light, if you step out in faith and begin to share Christ, there will be those who reject you.

Amen.

That happened to Jesus, and Jesus said, Hey, if it happened to me, it's gonna happen to you.

And that's J-Mo's paraphrase there.

You will be rejected, you'll be despised, you'll be criticized, you may be ostracized at school or at work, but he's called us to be a faithful witness.

But God in his mercy is still saving today.

Paul speaks of these Jews in Romans chapter 10, verses 1 to 4.

Romans 10:1–4

He said, Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them, speaking of the Jews, is that they may be saved, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul in Romans is speaking of the Jews, and it they're his own brethren, and he would desire that they might all come to know.

But let me make a point.

Some people have the idea that just because one is Jewish or just because one is of that bloodline, that they're automatically into heaven.

No.

It's only by the trust and faith and belief in Christ that one is saved.

Amen.

You see, religious privilege is not equal to saving faith.

Religious privilege is not equal to saving faith.

A person can grow up in church, a person can, again, know Bible stories, a person can give, a person can worship, a person can have Christian parents, understand the lingo, and still not personally know Jesus Christ.

You see, being around the light is not the same as receiving the light.

And while those were, there were those who rejected him, we find in verses 12 to 13 that there were also those who received Christ and they became children of God.

Look at the verse.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Verse 12, but to all who received him, who believed his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

You see, there were those that rejected him, but there were also those who received him.

And now he says, those who believed in him became had the right to become children of God.

Now, in one sense, all of humanity is of the family of God.

But there's that special relationship that one, when one trusts Christ, now we are the children of God.

We've been adopted by Him.

Jesus says this again in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 5 24, truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

John 6 40.

And I will raise him up at the last day.

John 11, 25 and 26, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, shall live again.

Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

And then he asked the question, Do you believe this?

And so he would ask us the same question today.

Do you believe this?

Again, saving faith is not merely knowing about Christ, but it's trusting him.

And he gave us the right that we might become children of God.

That's a pretty awesome thought, isn't it?

That we are now the children of God.

For in Christ Jesus you were all sons of God through faith.

Galatians 3 26.

Romans 8 14 to 17 says this for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba Father.

That's an endearing term that's used when he says Abba.

It kind of has that idea of daddy.

That he is our Abba Father.

Do you see him this morning as your Abba Father?

Or do you see him as some big guy up there with a wrecking ball that's just waiting for you to mess up and to crush you at his first opportunity?

You see, he's a loving father.

Verse 13 in this passage, who were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.

You see, he says that salvation doesn't come by blood, meaning heritage blood, not his blood.

He's not speaking his blood.

Salvation cannot be inherited through a family member.

Salvation cannot be inherited through a praying wife.

Salvation cannot be inherited through a husband that prays for his family.

Salvation can't be inherited through a mom or dad.

Salvation can't be inherited through a grandmother or granddad.

God may use him in our lives to bring us to faith in him, but each individual has to answer the question now: what will you do with this Jesus?

Nor the will of flesh.

Salvation's not some product of our own human ability to be good enough so that God somehow will find favor.

I can remember making a rash statement early on in my salvation in my mind, and I'm embarrassed to even admit it, but I will.

I was so arrogant.

Some of you may say you're still arrogant.

Well, not as arrogant as I once was.

That I thought I was something special because God had chosen me.

There must be something special in me that God would choose me.

How foolish a statement that was.

Amen.

It wasn't until I later learned how wretched I really was that I was amazed because I knew there was nothing in me that would ever warrant God's grace or his calling in my life.

I was praying this morning, actually making a cup of coffee at the house, and just like, God, I'm such a wretch.

God, I'm such a wretch.

But God, thank you so much for your grace and your mercy.

Amen.

When's the last time you said, God, in my own, I'm just a wretch.

I would tell you to turn to your neighbor and say, you're a wretch, but I'm not going to do that.

But God, thank you for your grace that you saved me.

God, thank you for your grace that you've kept me.

And that you will keep me to the very end.

Lastly, can by the come come by the will of man.

Salvation is not something another person accomplishes for you.

Let me speak to parents for a minute.

Parents, sometimes we have the idea that we're going to achieve that for our children.

But our children will all have to make the same decision to respond as we had to.

Your responsibility is to bear witness of light to your children in every opportunity that you have.

You cannot save your kids.

Can we say amen to that?

Some of you are going to have kids that just, man, come to faith in Christ and you're just so amazed at what God's doing.

And some of you are going to spend long hours on your knees praying for your kids that they would come to faith in Christ.

You see, it's God's work to do that.

Our responsibility as parents, as grandparents, is to point them to the true light.

You see, salvation requires a supernatural work of God.

We cannot do it on our own.

Jesus said in John 3.7 to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

And you're familiar with the story.

If not, look it up in John chapter 3, verses 3 to 8.

John 3:3–8

Nicodemus was confused when Jesus said to him, You must be born again.

And he asked the question, how am I to go back into my mother's womb to be born again?

What Nicodemus was missing is that he was born dead, dead to God and dead in the spirit.

But salvation is a supernatural work where God regenerates the heart of the sinner.

Where we're born again, and now there's a two new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

It's a supernatural work of God, and it's not something we can do on our own.

By a mother.

But then there's that second birth where we must be born again by the Spirit.

Because just as the Bible speaks of two births, the Bible speaks of two deaths.

There's the natural death, and some of you don't like it when I mention this, but we're all going to meet that day.

Amen.

There's that natural death that's going to occur.

Peter says it is appointed man to live, to die, and then to face the judgment of God.

And that's the second death that John speaks of in Revelation.

For those who have not been born again, who've not trusted Christ as their Savior, they will face a second death, the Bible speaks of.

And that death is where the wrath of God is poured out, and we're eternally separated from God because of our sin.

Have you had two births?

Are you expecting to have only one death?

See, for the born-again person, there's just one death, and then we're with him.

For the one apart from Christ, there's a second death that we'll face later.

Let me wrap this up.

Let me ask you a question.

How will you respond to the light?

I think there's been a clear presentation through John's opening verses of who Jesus is and of how we can be saved, how we can know this person.

I'm going to ask you to respond this morning in one or two ways.

If you're here this morning and you've never come to faith in Christ, oh, you've mentally believed him, you've grown up in church, you cut your teeth in the nursery, but maybe you've never really fully surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ and trusted him.

Or maybe you're here this morning just kind of by happenstance.

You just happen to be here, maybe somebody invited you.

And you've never trusted Christ.

My invitation to you this morning is that you would trust him and believe in him and place your faith in him.

For those of us who are saved, who are born again, that we would leave here this morning with a challenge to be a witness to the light, just as John the Baptist was a witness to the light.

And that can begin by you praying and asking, God, I know this person so-and-so, and I know that they don't know Jesus.

God, I pray, I begin to pray and ask you to draw them.

God, I pray and ask you to give me an opportunity to share with them.

God, I pray that you give me an opportunity that I might move them, move the needle in their lives as you're working to bring them to faith in Christ.

And take that step of faith and begin to share Christ with your family members, with people you work with, with customers, whoever it might be, where God will call you.